• Nebraska offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf
• Randy Gregory to enter draft
• What a crazy year for Nebraska Football
• Nebraska and Miami battle it out in Lincoln
• Nebraska rolls past Florida Atlantic
• Three Nebraska Football night games announced
• Statement from athletic director and my quick thoughts
• UCLA embarrasses Nebraska 41-21
• Nebraska survives 37-34 against Wyoming
• I’m ready for some football!
• Thoughts heading into the 2013 season
• It’s Nebraska vs Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship
• Thoughts on the Huskers season so far
• Big10 releases schedules for 2015 and 2016
• Aaron Green set to transfer from Nebraska

Ouch, that wasn’t the way Nebraska wanted to end the 2011-2012 football season. South Carolina pulled away in the second half to defeat the Cornhuskers 30-13 down in Orlando at the Capital One Bowl. It was a crazy game that saw a blocked PAT that was returned for a two points, two future first round draft picks ejected and many missed opportunities for the Huskers.

The game turned on Nebraska when Gamecocks receiver Alshon Jeffery leaped over the Nebraska defenders and then launched himself into the end zone on a hail mary pass to put South Carolina up 16-13. That play gave all the momentum to South Carolina and they came out in the second half and punished Nebraska up and down the field.

After the game, there was talk about communication problems in the second half as the team went to a silent count. Nebraska had nine penalties, including four false starts and one delay of game while only picking up five first downs in the second half. Martinez said he was unable to get the cadence calls to the line in time due the crowd noise. Hmm maybe that should have been practiced a little bit more between Martinez and the line? Or have the coaching staff possibly signal it in with the play?

Not a whole lot to talk about on the positive side of things unfortunately. It was down right en embarrassing game for coaches, the team and also the fans. It’s going to be another long break that will have many Husker fans wondering which direction this team is headed. I’m hoping for a good ending to the recruiting class and then some good spring practices. There is plenty of people coming back on offense that there should be no reason the offense won’t put up better numbers. I think the question will be how will the defense play after losing Alfonzo Dennard, LaVonte David and Jared Crick…

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I won’t talk much about the Minnesota game on Saturday as it was basically one half of play and then a glorified scrimmage in the second half. It was kind of hard to see how the team improved as the Gophers are one of the worse D1 teams right now. Things that I did like was getting Rex going early on in the game. Pound the rock to Burkhead and good things are going to happen. The quick bubble / jail break screens on offense were nice to see as well. Hopefully we see a couple of those attempts to Jamal Turner against Michigan State. The one play that stood out for most was the double reverse to Kenny Bell however. Bell took the ball and raced 80+ yards down the sidelines making the last two defenders miss and he scored the longest touchdown run my a Freshman in school history.

The defense played well all the way around I thought. A few missed tackles but that will happen in game. Again it was the same case of the Minnesota offense just not being very good so it was hard to see how well the guys improved on the defensive side of the ball.

The 41-14 win was nice to see and it could have easily been 60 something to 14 but you could tell things slowed way down in the 4th quarter. Good win coming off a bye week and kept the momentum going into the Michigan State game.

Now it’s time we look ahead towards Michigan State. The team leading the division and fresh off a upset of Wisconsin. The Spartans have been playing good ball this season and with a seasoned quarterback like Kirk Cousins, they are expecting a trip the Rose Bowl. Nebraska is about the only team standing in their way of that Rose Bowl trip. Nebraska is still in the hunt for a Rose Bowl birth but it all comes down to Saturday. Gotta beat Sparty and then probably win out the rest of the way in my opinion.

So what are the keys to beating Mich St? I think it will the offensive line and running backs picking up the multiple blitzes that Michigan State will be using. Sparty blitzes something like 60% of the downs so the guys on offense are going to have to be quick and Taylor is going to have to get rid of the ball quickly to avoid the sacks. Hopefully we see a lot of Rex getting the ball early on and some more of the diamond formation which puts a lot of speed for the defense to worry about. Guys are simply going to have to make plays on offense whether it is catching a wide open pass or keeping a simple block going without getting called for holding.

On defense, it is all about stopping the rushing attack which I think Nebraska will have good success doing. Coach Pelini usually does not have a problem coming up with a game plan to stop a pro style attack like the Spartans run. Cousins is not as mobile as other quarterbacks the defense has played so don’t expect much scrambling out of him. I think the defensive ends will be pretty active as Carl and Bo should not have to worry about the rushing quarterback and they should be allowed to push straight through the line rather than have to contain the edge on every play.

I expect Mich St to really try and run the ball. Look for LaVonte David to have a big game at linebacker as he racks up the tackles on the running backs. When Cousins does attempt to go deep, the db’s are going to have to be in position and not be getting caught looking in at the running backs.

Nebraska is currently a four point favorite in the game. I’m going to predict a 35-30 game with Nebraska coming out on top and keeping their Big 10 championship hopes alive.

@NebSports

Well Husker fans, the team is sitting at 4-1 on the season and 1-1 in Big10 play but there are still plenty of questions to be answered with the team and coaching staff but lets be happy for the victory and the way things played out on Saturday night.

Things didn’t start off good in the first half as the Huskers almost looked lost once again on both sides of the ball. Ohio State used up half the clock on their opening drive in the first quarter as the defensive line could not make the initial tackle.

Austin Cassidy almost stopped the bleeding towards the end of the first quarter but was unable to haul in what looked to be like an easy interception had he not jumped for the ball. Instead the Buckeyes scored would later score a td on the drive and go up 10-3.

As for the the offense in the first half, they pretty much sucked it up. Especially the offensive line. The line just couldn’t get any holes opened up for Taylor Martinez or Rex Burkhead.

I also have to mention the stupid play calling on the last drive of the first half for the Huskers. There was 40 seconds left in the half and 2nd down. Coach Beck calls for Taylor to throw over the middle of the field which I thought was stupid. Sure Kyler Reed was open but Taylor over threw him and the Buckeyes picked off the ball and then went down and kicked a field goal right before half time. Basically gave OSU three points when Beck could have easily called a run play and went into half time.

The second half of the game is where things started clicking for Nebraska. LaVonte David stripped Miller of the ball with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Miller had picked up the first down to extend the drive before David stripped the ball away. Martinez would then score two plays later out of the diamond formation and you could see the momentum starting to pick up for the Big Red.

On Ohio State’s next drive, Miller would roll his ankle and be done for the game. The Buckeyes could not move the ball with the backup quarterback and it seemed that the offensive line, Martinez and Burkhead could do nothing wrong after that.

It was first down after first down for Martinez and Burkhead. Martinez would also hit his open receivers including Burkhead on checkdown plays. Burkhead made one defender look silly as he took a swing pass to the end zone that tied up the game in the fourth quarter.

It was awesome to see Stanley Jean-Baptiste’s interception. He actually turned around and looked for the ball and had perfect position to pick it off. Great play for a guy that had only been playing corner back for three weeks.

It was a win, and a nice bounce back win for the guys as they head into the bye week. Time to get a little bit of rest and heal up some of those little injuries. Up next will be a road game at Minnesota on Oct 22nd. Gotta win those road games and pick up another conference win!

@Nebsports

Well the season opener as come and gone and Nebraska has a 1-0 record after beating Tennessee Chattanooga 40-7 on Saturday afternoon in Lincoln. It’s always good to get a win the first week of the season no matter who the opponent is but I thought that the offense left a lot to be desired and after reading comments from Coach Beck I was left thinking if he is ready to be a big time offensive coordinator?

The offense struggled for pretty much the whole game I had though. Terrible option plays, terrible line play and terrible blocking on the outside led to three and outs and fans wondering where the heck the new offense was that had been greatly talked about all off season. Coach Beck said he would get in a position where he wanted a play to succeed so badly that he just kept calling it even though there were probably better play calls that could have been made in those decisions. Yeah, like not running the option when your line is getting blown off the ball and the spacing between quarterback and running back is not where it needs to be.

Can we please get Jamal Turner the ball more than 2-3 times a game? The talented Freshman wowed the crowd with his one reception and he could be a big time play maker if given the ball more. The same could be said for Ameer Abdullah who flashed around on punt returns. I love his Turner’s and Abdullah’s running styles and they can really spark the offense if given the chance I think.

I’m hoping for a much improved offense and hopefully a more relaxed offense when Fresno State comes to Lincoln on Saturday night. If not, the Bulldogs just might make a game out of it.

The bright spots I thought were was the defense and special teams. The blackshirt defense held Mocs to just seven points and pretty much controlled the game from the get go. I thought that Cameron Merideth really stood out on defense and made some big plays including two sacks and an interception. Lavonte David had a team high nine tackles while fellow Senior Jared Crick finished with five tackles (two being for losses).

Special teams was led by Brett Maher who converted four out of four field goals. Maher connected from 50, 48, 34 and 21 yards out. Maher looked great out there and answered the question of who would fill in for Alex Henery who is now with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Overall the defense is there and will play even better once Alfonzo Dennard is back. The offense has a lot of work to do both from the players and coaches perspectives. Coach Beck needs to move away from plays that are not working and also work with Taylor Martinez to read through his progressions as well as spacing throughout the option plays. Hopefully the two can figure it out!

A long standing tradition has come to an end on the football field as Nebraska beat Kansas 20-3 in their final game of their storied history together. It was a cold night in Lincoln and it seemed like that had a little affect on the players as the game was low scoring but fast moving. It wasn’t a pretty win for the Huskers, but a win is a win just like they got against Iowa State last weekend. All you can do is keep on winning games no matter how it gets done.

It was nice to see Taylor Martinez back in there at quarterback. The coaching staff kept it safe in the first half as he mostly handed the ball off or threw to receivers. Martinez really didn’t scramble or run until the second half when he ran three straight times to open up the half. Taylor once again fumbled the ball and also threw a bone headed interception but overall he had a decent game and the turnovers didn’t do much damage as the defense played lights out.

The Huskers held the Jayhawks to just three points and 87 yards of total offense. The Jayhawks were only able to pass for 15 yards as the Blackshirts dominated the line of scrimmage and also played lock down defense in the secondary.

Lavonte David had another kickass game as he was causing problems for Kansas all game long. David finished the game with 10 tackles and two sacks. David and d-lineman Jared Crick really showed up and played up their potential. Those two players and the rest of the blackshirt defense is what won this game even. It’s nice when the defense can pick up the offense when they struggle to put but the ball in the end zone. Great job defense!

Like I said before, it sure wasn’t pretty but at this point in the season all you can do is grind out the games and hope to come away with victories. With a victory over Texas A&M on Saturday, the Big Red can clinch the Big12 North for the second year in a row. The game down in College Station sure won’t be easy. I know I’ll be in front of my tv and watching on ABC!

Kansas State fans were talking smack all week long on message boards and the airwaves but that smack talk was quickly put to rest Thursday night once Taylor Martinez had the ball in his hand. Martinez quickly made the wildcats fan think “wtf was that” as he scored from 14 yards out and then added a 35 yard td run in the first quarter. It was just the beginning for the big red as they rolled up 587 total yards on offense in route to a 48-13 butt whooping on national tv against K-State.

Martinez was pretty damn impressive against a wildcat defense that did not know how to tackle and defend the zone read play. Martinez set a freshman rushing record as he ran all over the wildcats and finished the game with 241 yards on 15 attempts. His 80 yard td run to start the second half put the game out of question for good and left Bill Snyder wishing it really wasn’t his birthday as it was a downright terrible game for his team. T-Magic would also throw for 128 yards on 5 of 7 passing. Martinez hit Kyler Reed for a 79 yard touchdown to account for most of his passing yards.

I gotta give some props to the offensive linemen and wide outs that were out there blocking down field for Martinez and Roy Helu Jr. who scored on a long 68 yard td. When your linemen can get downfield and knock linebackers and on their butts, you are going to break some long runs and that is exactly what Nebraska did. Great job guys!

The defense was once again led by linebacker Lavonte David who had a game high 16 tackles. David was out there flying around and if I remember correctly he had 10 tackles in the first quarter alone. David had a lot of help out there as the entire Blackshirt defense came ready to play. They allowed just two long field goals and a late touchdown. They also shut down Kansas State super running back Daniel Thomas to just 63 yards on 22 carries.

It was great to open up Big12 play with a butt whooping like that. Now all the attention goes to next Saturday when the Texas Longhorns make a trip into Lincoln. This game has been on a lot of fans mind since the Big12 Championship. I’ll be making the seven hour drive and attending and cannot wait!

The Big Red kicked off the 2010 season with a 49-10 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday night. The team was sparked by redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez at the quarterback position and the defense played good enough to keep the Hilltoppers out of the end zone for the most part.

My thoughts on the game were up and down. The offense played nice with Martinez doing most of the damage. Making his first college start, and the first time the Huskers opened up a season with a freshman quarterback, Martinez wowed the crowd with a 46 yard touchdown on his first rushing attempt. He would later add touchdown runs of 19 and 15 yards and finish the game with 127 yards rushing on seven carries.

I also thought that Rex Burkhead did well as he had over 100 all purpose yards including a 20 yard touchdown. Niles Paul and Austin Jones would also both get in the end zone for the big red.

On the defensive side of the ball the Huskers were good in the first half but did let down in the second half. Bo Pelini called the defense “embarrassing” even though they allowed just 10 points. The d-line did not get any sort of push and sometimes were getting pushed back off the line of scrimmage two or three yards. It’s time to toughen up guys and dominate that line of scrimmage!

The one player on defense that It thought really stood out was juco transfer Lavonte David. David would finish with a game high 13 tackles. David needs to do a little bit better job of stopping the run from his linebacker position but overall for his first game at the D1 level, he played outstanding.

Overall it was a good way to start the season but there are things that do have to be worked on and improved on. Defense needs to man up especially on the line and the offense needs to continue to move the ball. Roy Helu Jr. and Burkhead didn’t run the ball to often as Martinez was running around with the ball. Both backs will be counted on more as the season goes on and they will need to step up and take some pressure off Martinez.

What did everyone else think of the game? Your highlights? Things to improve on?